Chapter 26 - The Shadow Investor
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My hands shook as I stared at the gold emblem on the black card.
"Genetic encryption code...?" Mark murmured, reading over my shoulder. "What does that even mean?!"
Before I could answer, my phone chimed with a private notification from St. Jude's Hospital.
My grandfather, Arthur Sterling, had passed away quietly in his sleep at 4:15 PM. The old patriarch who had built our empire, who had lied to protect it, and who had ultimately passed its dangerous legacy to me was gone.
Three days later, we held a private funeral service for my grandfather at a quiet chapel overlooking the Hudson River.
Only a handful of trusted people attended: Mark, David Miller, Chloe, and our close security personnel. Neither my father nor my mother were permitted to leave their detention facilities to attend.
As the casket was lowered into the earth beneath a gray afternoon sky, I stood holding Grace in my arms, wrapped in a thick wool coat against the biting wind.
Once the service concluded and the few guests began walking toward their cars, a tall, elegant man dressed in a charcoal-grey coat stepped out from behind an ancient oak tree near the edge of the cemetery.
He had silver hair, piercing grey eyes, and carried a silver-topped cane. He walked toward me with measured, graceful steps.
My security chief, David Vance, immediately stepped between us, his hand resting inside his jacket.
"Stand down, Mr. Vance," the silver-haired stranger said smoothly, his voice possessing a rich, refined European accent. "I am not here to cause harm to the Chairwoman or her child."
"Who are you?" I asked, holding Grace a little tighter against my chest.
May you like
The man paused six feet away, bowing his head slightly in respect toward my grandfather's grave.
"My name is Victor Vance," the man announced softly, looking up into my eyes. "I am your grandfather's elder brother—the brother the Sterling family pretended died forty years ago."
